The Mankato free press. [volume] (Mankato, Blue Earth County, Minn.) 1879-1924, 1887-09-02
THE MANITOBA RUMPUS.
What the Trouble In Canada Is
About.

What the Trouble In Canada Is
About.
The two great railway systems of Brit
ish North America, the Grand Trunk
operating in Canada and the Canadian
Pacific operating manly in Manitoba
and the provinces to the west, are rivals
in the effort to secure complete trans.
continental connections. Thus far the
Canadian Pacific has outstripped the
Grand Trunk in the race, although the
latter is naturally the more profitable
system. The reason for this is that the
Canadian Pacific is practically part of
the Dominion Government. At it's in
ception it received an absurdly large
grant of land in Manitoba and the
Northwest Territory, and a guarantee
from the government of absolute inn
munity from the encroachment of rivals.
The government furnished it money to
cut way through the untamaDie wild
erness north of Lake Superior, and it
as the only feasible route there. Ma
ture having barred the way there to any
company having less money, the only
other transcontinental route lay through
part of the United States. To preserve
the monopoly the Dominion Govern
ment pledges itself to disallow the chart
er of any road which contemplated run
ming within fifteen miles of the interna-
tional line. Hence the term "disallow-
ance."
Now comes the Grand Trunk, which,
having pooled with the Northern Paci-
fic, is building the Red River Road.
This latter line is ostensibly constructed
by the Northern Pacific, and is intended
to connect with the Manitoba and North
western, which is Grand Trunk road
extending from Winnipeg into the fert-
lie Saskatchewan county. The people of
Manitoba are for the new road as unit,
and backed by public sentiment the
Northern Pacific Company proposes to
defy the Dominion Government and
force way across the disalIowed fifteen
miles on the British side of the Inter-
national boundary. If the scheme is sue
cessful the Grand Trunk will secure I'M
broken connections from the Saskatche-
wan to the Atlantic seaboard, using the
Northern Pacific lines from Winnipeg
up the Red River, across Northern Min
nesota, Wisconsin and Michigan, and
back into Canada, escaping the impassa-
BILE obstruction north of Lake Superior.
The St. Paul, Minneapolis and Manitoba
Road, shown in the map, is merely a
part of the Northern Pacific system. To
fully understand the situation, it must
be known that the people of Manitoba
have been oppressed by the Canadian
Pacific monopoly in way which by
comparison make the oppression which
led to American revolution and indie
pendence mere trifies.
Mr.. George E. Allen, the Chicago
agent of the st. Paul, Minneapolis &
Manitoba Railway says that the chief OBJ
ject sought in the building of the Red
River Railway is to connect the North
ern Pacific's branch down the river with
a Canadian line controlled by the own
ers of the Grand Trunk Railway. The
latter line is the Manitoba and North
western. 1t is built from Portage La
Prairie, on the Canadian Pacific, "a miles
west of Winnipeg, in northwestern d.
rection, for 1873 miles, to Brittle. 1t is
owned by the Allan Brothers, of Eng
land, the owners of the Allan Steamship
Line, and large owners in the Grand
Trunk Railway. This railway has, for
many years, been seeking to secure a
transcontinental line into the Northwest
Territory. 1t touches several points on
Lake Huron and the Georgian Bay,
whence the strait of Mackinac is reached
by boat. There is traffic agreement
between the Grand Trunk and the Du-
luth, South Shore & Atlantic, running
from st. Ignace to Duluth. The connec-
ton from Duluth, Mimi, to Pembina, d.
T., is to be made by the Northern Paci-
fic, and the new Red River Railway Is
to furnish the connecting link from
Pembina to Portage la Prairie. Mr.. AL
len says the country into which the
Manitoba and Northwestern runs is a
rich wheat country, and is being rapidly
settled. "The Canadian Pacific west of
Port Arthur" says Mr.. Allen, "was not
built legitimately. That is, it was not
built because it could live on the coun-
try. The Western line has lost steadily,
and would not have been built had not
the Dominion Government given it q
monopoly of the territory for twenty
years. The builders hope that it will
pay in that time. think this new road
will be built. The government don't
seem to be very anxious to stop the
work. 1t is only making bluff. Ifitis
built the Canadian Pacific viii have q
claim against the government for heavy
damages"